Life and religion. . .

'Life and religion are one, or neither is anything. The same God who is in us. . .also is all about us-inside, the Spirit; outside the [Bible] and the two are ever trying to meet in us.'

'One of my greatest difficulties in considering to think of religion was that I thought I should have to give up my beautiful thoughts and my love for the things God had made. I find that. . .God is the God of the beautiful, [Christianity] the love of the Beautiful, and Heaven the House of the Beautiful-nature is tenfold brighter in the sun of righteousness, and my love of nature is more intense since I became a Christian.'

He wrote this poem after four of his eleven children went Home to Heaven:

But thou art making me, I thank thee, sire.
What thou hast done and doest thou know'st well,
And I will help thee; gently in thy fire
I will lie burning; on thy potter's wheel
I will whirl patient, though my brain should reel.
Thy grace shall be enough the grief to quell,
And growing strength perfect through weakness dire.

~George MacDonald

Recommended reading:
At the Back of the North Wind
Phantastes
Lilith
I think it is best to read them in that order as well. They become more complex and I think it eases you in this way.
ENJOY!